I thought it might be fun to introduce you to the weird world of my favorite insects.

These insects really give me an appreciation of our beautiful Earth and really create a sense of wonder in me and that drives me to keep on doing my job. Working hard to rehabilitate and rescue animals.

Luna Moth.This moth lives in North America. They are usually found in forested areas. Southern Canada has seen some. These are large green moths with long tails. They have eye spots on both the fore and hind wings. You could plant broad leaf host plants if you wish to try and attract these beauties to your yard. White birch is a good host in the north and most lunas like walnut in the south. They can make clicking noises with their mandibles to ward of predators.

Puss Caterpillar.
This caterpillar got its name because of its furry hairdo. It’s like a furry kitten but you don’t want to pet it because it’s toxic. These are found in southeastern United States. The venomous tubes on it are hollow with the base equipped with the venom gland. The bigger the caterpillar, the worse the sting. The sting can look like red bumps just like the caterpillar. Florida has actually sent out warnings to citizens to watch out for this toxic caterpillar.

Orchid Mantis.
Of course this mantis looks like an orchid. They are ruthless killers. They wait for prey, looking like a pretty flower petal and then strike. Their habitat is in the Asian rain forest. They can turn brown if their environment requires it. These mantis help attract pollinators to the flower also.

Walking sticks.
These of course look like walking sticks. I met these amazing creatures in my youth. Every time I encountered one when I was younger, I got so excited. I loved these majestic creatures crawling on me. Species are found all over the world, except Antarctica and Patagonia. They rock back and forth swaying like branches of the trees.

Check out my favorite insects.

There’s many more beauties to explore and I encourage you to do so.

There is more biodiversity of microbes in a handful of soil of the amazon then there is in the animal community.

Have you heard this?

Its common knowledge in my field.

Leonardo Da Vinci said 500 years ago, which still holds true,“We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.”

There can be 10,000 to 50,000 species of microbes in a single teaspoon of soil. In the same teaspoon there are more microbes then there are people on Earth. You may hear of all the animals disappearing in the Amazon due to deforestation, but the microbes are disappearing as well.

Scientists believe that microbes that could help our human health could already be extinct. Our bodies have around three pounds of microbes on them. They help us in many ways, just like the microbes help the plant world.

Our gut microbes help us digest food.

Without these microbes we develop autoimmune diseases. Bacteria and fungi serve at the “stomachs” of plants.

Through this symbolic relationship, they provide nutrients of the cells of the plants roots.

Researchers believe that some of these microbes can help us with our digestion.

Also studying these microbes could help us in our own gardens.

We could get healthier more productive plants in a more natural way. These microbes not only help with our and a plants digestion but also our immune systems.

Microbes can produce chemicals that can ward off pests. They can act as an early warning system to the plant, letting it know there are predators around and the plant can use its natural defense mechanisms too.

A study showed that diseased tomato plants use their underground network of mycorrhizal filaments to warn other healthy tomato plants and they can activate their defenses before being attacked.

mycorrhizal

As Micheal Pollan said, “Some researchers believe that the alarming increase in autoimmune diseases in the West may own to a disruption in the ancient relationship between our bodies and their ‘old friends’—the microbial symbiotic with whom we co-evolved.”

I hope I’ve peaked your interest in our microbial friends of the Amazon.

All creatures big and microscopic deserve our respect and their rightful place in our ecosystem.

I’ve always loved animals and rescuing them and rehabilitating them.

As I grew older and got more into the field, I realized how my everyday choices impacted these very animals I was helping.

Throughout this blog I’m going to talk about some common rescues that come into us and what I’ve changed about my everyday life to help the animals.

I’ve switched over to glass straws or no straws at all.

Recently there was a sea turtle that came in and had a straw stuck in its nose. A terrible ordeal, which impacted me greatly. I felt this turtle’s pain. There’s roughly 8 million metric tons of plastic and trash in our oceans. I’ve started taking no to straws. I also found some really great glass straws. I like having them for my smoothies.

The coldness bothers my teeth so the glass straws are a perfect alternative.

Our Bald Eagles are dying from being poisoned by lead.

This lead comes from bullets from hunters. The eagles are ingesting fragments of these bullets in animals not yet found by the hunters or from the leftover insides from field dressing. I don’t personally hunt but have many family members that do.

For them it’s a way of life.

They respect nature and animals and hunt responsibly and use every piece of the animal. At a recent family gathering, I told them of the eagle problem and encouraged them to not use lead bullets and bury their field dressings. Taking these two steps will help our eagles from being poisoned.

The easiest change I’ve made to help the animals that I see coming in is changing to cloth reusable bags.

Plastic bags make it to our oceans and animals are ingesting it thinking its jellyfish or other food. The plastic bags are obstructing their digestive tracts and essentially starving the animal. I’ve sewn cloth bags out of my old tee-shirts and bought bags at the grocery store.

I keep them in my car so I never forget them.

These are just three simple ways to help save the animals.

Its really costing our wildlife so much. It’s costing us too.

We need these animals for a healthy ecosystem, which we are a part of.

When I was little, just a young boy, I lived in the mountains and I remember loving monkeys, gorillas and apes…

I collected stuffed animal apes and did reports on chimpanzees, orangutans, guerrillas and other monkeys..

When I was little I used to be a little bit more of a artist and I used to draw, sketch, color and paint pictures of monkeys and apes.

I wanted to be like Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey and go live in the African jungle with the gorillas…

My favorite movie was Gorillas In The Mist.

My mother had a big piece of land for my siblings and I that we lived on and I remember I used to go out to the woods and climb trees, run around on all fours pretending I was a silverback gorilla stopping in mid run to beat and pound on my chest as I screamed and yelled like I was the king of the jungle.

At one point I collected branches big and small, some with leaves and some without and I brought them up to my room in the three-story house we lived in and I created a jungle in my room. Then I took all of the stuffed animal monkeys, gorillas and apes and toys of the like that I had and I hung them from the branches and mini little trees that were now my jungle bedroom.

Now many years later and much older I still would like to travel to Africa and going to the jungle to see the wild gorillas one day.

Wondering what your dreams was as a kid, what did you wish to do when you were little?

Did you create any type of jungle in your room?

The mountains that I grew up in when I was a child was the Santa Cruz mountains of northern California. Now most of my family lives in Sonoma County California

25 to 30 years later I still have a deep connection with gorillas and I resonate with them as a spirit animal of mine. I use their energy as a spirit guide when I travel on energetic journeys through my own personal growth work and spiritual development.

There are so many things about the nature that we still don’t know, and numerous ways in which nature still manages to surprise us! If you think you have heard everything there is to know about senses animals have – think again! Here are some of the most amazing facts about animal, nature, as well as the senses in animal have in the wild.

Alligators And Their Super-skin

If you didn’t know that alligators have superb skin perhaps it’s time for you to learn something new. If someone tells you that you have alligator skin, make sure you take that as a compliment. The skin of a real-life alligator is in fact extraordinarily sensitive to vibrations. In fact, the vibrations are the sole reason that alligators are able to locate their prey. The vibration they feel on their skin give them precise information on we are at their prey is located and whether it is in the proximity or moving.

Platypus And Electroreception

Platypuses are able to feel electrical impulses stand out by their prey, which help them locate their prey even in the murky waters. This is how platypuses are able to use a electroreception at the main sensor. In fact, platypuses are the only mammals that use electroreception and their sensors.

Vibrations, Vibrations

Many animals you vibrations in order to be able to locate the prey in their proximity, were identified the threat in their proximity. Elephants, too, use vibrations and are actually acutely aware of vibrations in their surroundings. Elephants use their trunks and feet and to communicate with other elephants and convey messages about predators, territory and mating preferences. The messages are being transferred through the seismic activity, which explains why elephants are aware of vibrations so much.

It’s About The Pitch

When it comes to wolves, it can be said that their special sense is scent, but they are also specialized in vocalization and more importantly pitch. In fact, wolves not wanting to lose their voices in howling, pick their own unique note.

Falcons And Their Prey

These birds of prey are especially amazing and fascinating. In fact, even while the falcon is diving at the speed of more than 100mph, they can spot a prey. This can be attributed to the reduced number of blood vessels in the retina of the falcon. The scientific explanation for this is that the blood vessels in the retina scatter light and the fewer the vessels the sharper the images. Sharp images and fewer blood vessels in their retinas is what make falcons amazing hunters and terrifying birds of prey.

Snakes And Their Prey

Snakes are able to track their prey with their forked tongues. Their tongues are designed in such a way that they pick up scent molecules other animal transfer and with the specialized ducts in their mouth they are transferred to the Jacobson’s organ. This organ can in fact detect where the source of the scent is located and this is how snakes are able to accurately and precisely locate their prey.